The Cyclone of 1867

On August 19, 1867, a cyclone struck the village of New Florence and destroyed the partially erected amphitheater of the fairgrounds belonging to the County Fair Association, besides killing two men and wounding others. The particulars of this incident were thus narrated by a correspondent of the Montgomery Standard and published in that paper on August 23, 1867.

On that morning of the 19th, our village was visited by one of those "Simoon Winds" or hurricanes so usual after an extensive drought. The dark clouds "Passed in fury," gathering strength in each "whirl," burst in violance about one mile west of our village, and directing its course east and north, came in contact with the partially erected amphitheater of the County Fair Grounds, where the entire corps of hands had taken refuge, and in one sudden moment, a crush, a wreck, a wail. The entire amphitheater was swept to the earth, and nearly every man more or less injured, and two were killed in the monomet, Mr. Hames G. West and Mr. Wiley Graham. Among the severely wounded were Mr. D.H. Nunnelly, in the head and hip.